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ver.indd
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12/1/1
INSIDER Q&A
I
t took a while for Richard Edmon-
son, the CEO of SkyGolf, to realize
his passion for the game of golf.
But once he did, he embraced it
wholeheartedly.
The Mississippi native had a strong
business sense long before being ex-
posed to the game, but once he started
playing, he realized that what he had
learned and practiced as a CPA could
immediately translate into the golf in-
dustry. Namely, that the technological
advancements of wireless communica-
tion that had transformed the business
world could also transform the golf in-
dustry.
Today, Edmonson runs a golf-centric
company that puts that technology, lit-
erally, into the hands of golfers, prima-
rily through SkyCaddie.
We caught up with Edmonson and
picked his fertile brain about his past,
present and future, as well as the im-
pact that technology will continue to
wield on the game of golf.
how did you come up with the idea of
a handheld gps for golfers? After col-
lege, my early career was spent as a
CPA with a national accounting firm,
where I got to see an array of businesses
and what made them work or not work.
It was at that stage I discovered an en-
trepreneurial drive.
During a brief period of retirement, I
was finally able to play golf several
days a week after years of being limited
to a few times per month.
But even as an avid golfer, retirement
was not satisfying and I began looking
for another business to invest in or par-
ticipate in as an outlet for my need to
build something.
In my search for the next opportunity,
I would always trust a friend for advice
and guidance on technology-based
businesses on my radar. Coincidentally,
this friend had built a business special-
izing in rapid-prototyping of emerging
technologies in the areas of wireless
communications, GPS and the internet.
At some point, my relationship with
this friend led to a partnership that
would be focused on taking his broad
technology knowledge and capabilities
coupled with my business experience to
find commercial opportunities.
During my analysis of the many pos-
sibilities, I ran across an abandoned
project of his concluded in the very
early '90s that resulted in the "first"
demonstrable golf-cart GPS system.
This caught my attention because at
first it seemed like an emerging oppor-
tunity and it was ready to go. And with
that, we undertook the challenges of
what ended up being a four-year quest
to build and introduce the first hand-
held GPS device designed for golfers to
own personally for use on any golf
course in the world to get the distances
they need but never had access to be-
fore.
•••
what makes skycaddie's product stand
out? SkyCaddie is committed to taking
an imperfect technology and making it
into a product that any golfer, regard-
less of skill level, can trust to deliver all
the distances they need for any situa-
tion on a golf course that will allow
them to save strokes and play golf to
the best of their ability.
Due to imperfections and challenges
in using GPS, we learned from the be-
ginning that there are no shortcuts to
delivering distances that can be trusted.
That is why SkyCaddie goes the extra
mile and to actually walk the course the
golfer will play to measure accurately
and completely the hazards, layups and
greens.
•••
what's the most exciting product from
skycaddie in 2017? I would say our
hitting the mark
SkyGolf CEO Richard Edmonson brought handheld GPS to golf
Richard Edmonson.
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